Detachable electrical connector



June 13, 1939. O s IELD I DETAGHABLE ELECTRICAL commc'roa Filed'Deo. 27, 1955 FIG-.1.

BY 5 fgw A Togr ql-w INVEN d 5 Patented June 13, 1939 2,162,453 7 DETACHABLE ELECTRICAL cormn'c'ron Oscar S. Field, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Gen- Y eral Railway Signal Company, Rochester,

Application December 27, 1935, Serial No. 56,351 3 Claims. 01. 173-328) This invention relates in general to electrical apparatus, and more particularly to a detachable connector permitting electrical conductors to be conveniently connected to or removed from electrical apparatus of the type such as employed in railway signalling systems or the like.

The relays and the like of a railway signalling system form a part of a rather complicated organization of electrical circuits upon which the operation and safety of trains depends, ahd consequently it is very important that the external electrical connections to these relays be always properly connected thereto and so connected that 1 a reliable low resistance electrical connection is remove the relays from the system'for replacement, repair or the like, and consequently 'the large number of circuits involved in making such a change often results in delaying normal operation of the signalling system for an undue length of time, and. also there is a great possibility of improperly replacing the electrical connections with possible danger of improper operation or of further delay.'. I

- In view of the above and other considerations,

it is proposed in accordance with the present in-' vention, to provide a plug connecting means whereby electrical connections maybe, as aunit,

conveniently connected to or disconnected, an

. electrical device of such a signalling system without the possibility of improperly replacingsuch electrical conductors and with a minimum delay K only in a manner which properly connects the external circuits to the electrical device, and to provide a simple'and reliable means for retaining the separable nymbers in their coupled positions.

Other objects, purposes and characteristic features of the present invention .will appear as the description thereof progresses, during which reierences will be made to-the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a plug connecting means constructed in accordance with formed. However, it is necessary to occasionally ternal circuits and arranged to provide a re-" It is further proposed to provide such 5 the present invention and illustrated with certain parts broken away. r

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the plug connecting means shown in Fig. 1 alsohaving certain parts broken away. The plug connecting means in Fig. 2 is illustrated in its disconnected position and with one member illustrated as attached to a relay shown by dot and dash lines.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating certain details of the present plug coupling means.

In the accompanying drawing, a plug coupling means is shown 'in a form arranged to connect l4'separate electrical conductors, and as illustrated in Fig. 2, the plug or male member is illustrated as mounted above a relay of the type .shown, for example, in Patent No. 1,824,129

granted September 22, 1931 to O. S. Field. but it is understood that. the present plug coupling means could be employed to'connect any other group of electrical circuits and need not necessarily be mounted upon a particular piece of apparatus. The portion of the relay illustrated in Fig. 2 by dot and dash lines comprises two operating coils l mounted above'a top insulating panel 5, which panel 5 carries the relay terminals, a few of which terminals have been illustrated by binding posts 6. The binding posts 6 are of course connected to the armature operated contacts, fixed contacts and operating coils of the relay in the usual manner.

The male portion of the present plug coupling means comprises a panel 8 of suitable insulating I material such as a molded phenolic compound, which panel 8 carries a plurality of spaced extending, prong members 9. These prongs 9 have endsof prongs 9 is provided to engage the shoulders formed by brackets ID of the prongs 9 and thus retain the prongs in their illustrated position within the panel 8.

A cover member I alsoof'insulating material such as a molded phenolic compound encloses the inner ends of prongsil, the edges of the cover member l4 fitting intoan'angular groove in the panel B and a-ledge (not shown) on the sides ofv the cover I engage the inside surfaces of the retaining plate l2 thus holding the plate I2 against the panel 8. The cover I4 is detachably retained in place by two screws i5 extending therethrough and threaded into inserts l8 molded into the panel 8. Insulating spacing bushings H are provided around the body portion of screws l between the retaining plate l2 and the cover M, the cover l4 having cup shaped bosses receiving the ends of these bushings l1.

The plug member thus assembled may be mounted on the electrical apparatus such as the illustrated relay by a suitable mounting bracket 20 the upper end being clamped thereto beneath the heads o'f screws l5 while thelower end may be carried beneath. the heads of bolts 2| employed to assemble the magnetic structure of the relay. Suitable insulated electrical conductors 23 are soldered-to the inner ends of prongs 9 as shown, which conductors 23 extend to the center of cover l4 and are formed into a cable 24 extending through an opening in the rear of cover II. A grommet 25 of rubber or. other pliable insulating material is provided in the outlet in the cover I l to protect the cable and to fill the void between the'cover l4 and cable 24.

In ,order to install the various conductors 23 upon the prongs 9, it will of course be clear that 'the'cover HEdemoved from the panel 8 by 1 removing screws l5 thereby permitting the conductors 23 extending through the grommet 25 to be conveniently soldered tothe ends of prongs 9 as shown, whereupon the cover is replaced toform a complete enclosure protecting these connections from dust and dirt and from contacting with other objects or from physical damage.

' rectangular slots therein spaced according to the spacing of the prongs 9, which slots receive the sockets arranged as clearly shown in Fig. 3. These sockets are each formed of a metal strip 29 of a general U-shape' with a .rearwardly extending lug formed by a loop of the same material. This U-shaped piece 29 surrounds a contacting strip 30 formed of asingle piece of spring material such as phosphor-bronze, which contacting strip 30 substantially forms a liner for the U-shaped piece 29 except that the center portions are bowed inwardly so that the minimum distance between this bowed portion is less than the thickness of the prongs 9, and this bowed'portion is provided with a longitudinal pressed out portion forming contacting surfaces which are to engage opposite sides of the prongs 9. The U-shaped piece 29and contact strip 38 are assembled as shown to form a socket by a hollow rivet 3| inserted through the rearwardly extending lug; v

The outer end of each of the slots in the panel 28 which receive. these U-shaped pieces 29 is g of a reduced dimension which readily receives a retaining plate 32 similar to plate ll of the male member is provided with rectangular'holes receiving the lugs of the U-shaped pieces 28 and engaging the shoulders of these pieces 29 whereby the sockets are retained withinthe rectangular the external electrical circuits.

slots of panel 23. The same cover member l4- may be employed on the female portion as employed on the male portion, and this cover may be retained by screws l5 threaded into inserts IS with spacers llalso-in the same manner.

Electrical conductors 33 corresponding to each of the electrical conductors 23 are soldered to the lugs at the rear of the U-shaped pieces 29, which conductors 33 are formed into a cable 34 similar to cable, which cable 34. extends to d It will be noticed in fig. 2 that the prong 9 in the left hand upper comer of the male portion of the present plug couplingmeans is turned 90 with respect to the other prongs 9, and likewise the socket corresponding thereto in the female portion is also turned 90 with respect to the other sockets, and it may be seen in Fig. 1 that this arrangement is duplicated on each side. In other words, it may be seen in Fig. l thatthe sockets in each of the lower corners of the figure are turned 90 relative to the other sockets, and the prongs of the male portion-being similarly arranged, it will be clear that the male and female portions can only be coupled together in one position which insures that conductors 33 are properly connected direction. In installing the hasp 38, a narrower iwhen the hasp 38 is installed in this manner thus retaining the hasp in its illustrated position.

The extending end of the hasp 38 is bowed upwardly so that when the male and female members are in their coupled position, a downward pressure on the endof hasp 38 is eifective to extend theend to a position allowing its T- shaped outer end to hook over the rear edges of the webs in cover .ll of the female portion thus retaining the plug coupling members in the assembled position. It will be clear that as the covers I of the male and'female positions are identical the hasp 38 may be carried by either the male or female member. In Fig. 2 it may be seen that the panel 8 of the male portion is provided with a slightly extending outer rim which fits into a depressed edge around the panel 28 of the female portion, thus forming a slightly overlapping joint which prevents the accumulation of .dust or dirt between the panels which might interfere with the, proper coupling of the.

two members.

A detachable plug connecting means for electrical devices has thus been provided having a detachable member to which the external conductors are permanently connected which can be plug-coupled to an associated member carried by the-electrical device and towhich the elements of the electrical devices are permanently connected whereby to permit the electrical device to be removed from an electrical system and replacement Y strips are provided with. reinforcing members of non-resilient material which bear against the walls of the retaining panel to insure proper contacting pressure. contacting strips on each side of the prongs in this arrangement insures that a good electrical contact will be made regardless of-slight diiferences which might occurin manufacture between the spacing of the prongs and the spacing of the sockets.

Another importantfeature of the present plug coupling device is the removable cover which is provided on each of the separable members, which cover is removed in attaching the electrical conductors to the,prongs and sockets thus enabling such connections to be conveniently made, {and when the cover is replaced, these connections are protected from damage and the contacts are com-- pletely enclosed to guard against short circuits or damage. A simple and reliable means has been provided preventing the separable -,members of the plug coupling means from being improperly connected by employing prongs having rectangu-- lar cross sections with certain prongs turned about their longitudinal axis topositions permitting the coupling together of only the associated electrical circuits.

The above rather specific description of one form of the present invention is given solely by the way of example, and is. not intended, in any manner whatsoever, in a limiting sense. It will be obvious that the general principles herein disclosed may be embodied in otherorganizations different from those illustrated without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention ex- 6 cept as limited in the following claims.

What I claim is: 1. In a plug connector, in combination, a support member, a rectangular compartment therein,

a receiving socket in the member compartment for receiving a flat prong, the socket including a rigid- U-shaped outer strip formed irom a single fiat strip of material and having an elongated pressed together finger extending from the base of the The resiliency of the bowed U, a shouldered aperture at one end of the compartment receiving the fingenwith the base of U-shaped contactmember formed from a single piece of material and positioned in the outer strip witha pressed together finger held in the outer the U bearing against the shoulders, a resilient strip finger and with each leg of the contact member bowed inwardly toward the other and shoulder means at the other end of thecompartment against which the free ends of the contact .member legs bear for cooperating with the apertured shoulders to hold each leg so that each of its ends always bears at a fixed position against a leg of the outer strip.

2. In a plug connector, in combination, a first member, a prong extending from the member, a

second member, a receiving socket in the second member for receiving the prong, the prong being fiat, and the socket including a rigid U-shaped outer strip formed from a single strip of material and having an elongated pressed together finger extending from the base of the U, a resillent U-shaped contact member formed from a single piece of material and positioned in the outer stripwith a pressed together finger held in the liner finger and with each leg of the contact member bowed. inwardly toward the other,

;'means holding the legs so that each leg has each of its ends always hearing at a fixed. position against a leg of the outer strip, and a longitudinally elongated inwardlypressed out portion in each of the contact member legs.

3. In a plug connector, in combination, a support member, a receiving socket in the member for receiving a fiat prong, the socket including a rigid U-shaped outer strip formed from a single strip of material and having an'elongated pressed together finger extending from the base of the Li, a resilient U-shaped contact member formed from a single piece of material and positioned in the outer strip with a pressed together finger held contact member bowed inwardly toward the other and means on the Support member for holding the in the outer strip finger and with each leg of the 

